In 1931, American Mercury
magazine published a three-part story "The Worst States of America," a ranking
of the (at the time) 48 states and the District of Columbia. Back then,
Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York took the top three spots.

The bottom three were held by
Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina.

Fast forward 83 years and things are better- at least for
Alabama and South Carolina - and even then only slightly.

Politico Magazine recently used 14 different rankings from
sources such as the Census Bureau, Centers for Disease Control and the FBI to
rank the states from strongest to weakest. The list also looks at standardized
testing scores, per capita income and economy.

New Hampshire claimed the top spot while Mississippi held on to the bottom.

The top 10 in the overall lists are:

1.
New Hampshire

2.
Minnesota

3.
Vermont

4.
Utah

5.
Massachusetts

6.
Wyoming

7.
Colorado

8.
Iowa

9.
Washington

10.
Connecticut

The bottom 10 are:

42. Oklahoma

43. Georgia

44. West Virginia

45. Kentucky

46. South Carolina

47. Alabama

48. Tennessee

49. Arkansas

50. Louisiana

51. Mississippi

Here's how Alabama ranked on the individual rankings from
best to worst: